October 30, 1909 



HOKTICULTURi: 



605 



SOCIETY AMERICAN FLORISTS 

 AND ORNAMENTAL HOR- 

 TICULTURISTS. 

 Appointments. 



President Valentine has made the 

 following appointments: 



As representatives of the S. A. F. & 

 0. H. to the National Council of Hor- 

 ticulture: J. Otto Thilow, Philadel- 

 phia, Pa.; Elmer D. Smith. Adrian, 

 Mich. 



Committee on Badge for Life Mem- 

 bers: W. J. Vesey, Fort Wayne, Ind. 



Conference Committee with the Am- 

 erican Seed Trade Association: Wm. 

 P. Kasting, Buffalo, N. Y. (The other 

 members of this committee are ex- 

 officio J. A. Valentine and F. H. 

 Traendly. After January 1st the ad- 

 ditional members will be F. R. Pier- 

 son and J. A. Valentine.) 



Committee on State Appropriations 

 for Experiment Stations: W. N. Rudd, 

 Morgan Park, 111. 



Retail Dealers' Delivery Association. 

 . By order of President Valentine a 

 meeting of the retail florists of the 

 United States and Canada is called for 

 Friday, November 5th, next, at 2 p. m., 

 at the Chicago Flower Show in the 

 Coliseum Building, 



Letters received by President Valen- 

 tine from retail florists in various parts 

 of the country indicate that there is a 

 general desire for an association of 

 this kind properly organized, and this 

 meeting is called hoping that a large . 

 number of retail florists will get to- 

 gether, discuss the matter in all its 

 bearings, and complete a preliminary 

 organization which shall go forward 

 and work out the details in such a 

 way as to put this much needed pro- 

 ject on a safe and effective basis. 



In order to expedite matters and save 

 delay at the meeting it is desired: 



First: That all retailers interested 

 who will be unable to be present, will 

 write the undersigned expressing their 

 views fully, such letters to be turned 

 over to the meeting. 



Second: All retailers interested are 

 urgently requested to enclose with the 

 above letters copies or forms for such 

 telegrams as they customarily send or 

 receive in such cases, with a view to 

 preparing a suitable cipher code for 

 telegrams. 



Third: A special statement to be 

 sent of the difliculties experienced at 

 the present time in transacting such 

 business by each individual, so that 

 the new organization may have full in- 

 formation to work from and be able 

 to make the new system at once safe. 

 sure and speedy. 



W. N. RUDD, Secretary. 



Oct. 23, 1909. 



Those Convention Railroad Rates. 



The Editor of HORTICULTURE 

 having seen fit to criticize, by impli- 

 cation, the writer for failure to obtain 

 reduced rates to the Cincinnati con- 

 vention, and that other bright star in 

 the Eastern heavens, Mr. Bunyard, 

 having seen fit to add his mite, it 

 seems advisable that the facts should 

 be given. 



Application was made to the Cen- 

 tral Passenger Association in Chicago, 

 which has jurisdiction over the cen- 

 tral portion of the United States, for 

 reduced rates. This application was 

 refused, except that rates were offered 

 conditioned on an attendance of one 



thousand, which is more than double 

 the registered attendance for some 

 years back. The matter was taken up 

 again with unfavorable results, and 

 it came before the association a third 

 time, at which time the writer is ad- 

 vised that, every road represented, with 

 one exception, voted against our 

 proposition. Practically the same ex- 

 perience was had at the Niagara Falls 

 convention. 



In view of the fact that the Central 

 Passenger Association had repeatedly 

 refused concessions to larger and more 

 influential societies than our own, it 

 seemed useless to go further in the 

 matter. Perhaps Mr. Stewart or Mr. 

 Bunyard could have done better — but 

 the writer could not. 



The following letter, in answer to a 

 query of the writer, sets forth the con- 

 ditions existing: 



CENTRAL PASSENGER ASSOCIATION, 



Tribune Building, Chicago. 



October 0, 1000. 

 \V. N. Rudd, Secretary, 



Society of Americau Florists, 

 Morgau Park, III. 

 Dear Sir: 



In response to the inquiry of your favor 

 of IStlr iust., I beg to advise tliat tire lines 

 of tire Central Passenger Association par- 

 ticipated iu the excursion fares announced 

 and tendered connections by the roads of 

 the Southeastern Passenger Association for 

 the occasion of the last annual meeting of 

 the National Nut Growers' Associatiou at 

 Albany, Ga., the rate being one and three- 

 fitths regular fares on the certiBcate plan, 

 contingent on an attendance of one-hundred 

 or more people. As you have been advised, 

 this basis of a fare and three-flfths, requir- 

 ing an attendance of not less than one- 

 hundred persons, is not used in Central 

 Passenger Association territory. Formerly, 

 when passenger fares were three cents per 

 mile, concessions were made to conventions 

 of one and one-third normal fares contin- 

 gent upon an attendance of one-hundred 

 or more delegates. This practice, however, 

 was perforce dlscontiuued following enact- 

 ment of the maximum passenger tare laws 

 by the states in which these interests oper- 

 ate. Without using the basis locally, they 

 have, however, conceded participation in 

 such fares in the territories of other Asso- 

 ciations, when tendering one and three- 

 flfths regular fares on an attendance of one- 

 hundred or more, as iu the instance of the 

 Nut (irowcrs' meeting at Albany, Ga. As 

 you have been Informed, Central Passenger 

 Association roads have, by reason of the 

 conditions referred to, limited extension of 

 convention fares to one and one-half pub- 

 lished rates, contingent upon an attendance 

 of one-thousand people. Yours truly, 



(Signed) F. C. DONALD, 



Commissioner. 



Rochester, the next meeting place, 

 is, I believe, under the jurisdiction of 

 another traffic association and it may 

 be possible to obtain rates. It such 

 rates are granted by me Eastern Asso- 

 ciation, it would seem, in view of the 

 above letter, that the Central Associa- 

 tion would have to join in, in order 

 to be consistent, although consistency 

 does not always seem to be a strong 

 a,ttr;bute of those engaged in making 

 passenger rates. 



Information just received is that 

 tbe total number of names registered 

 in the book kept by tha Cincinnati 

 Florists' Club of those visiting Cin- 

 cinnati at convention time was 1056, 

 and this register did not contain the 

 names of any local florists and did 

 not contain the names of a good many 

 of the members of the S. A. F. The 

 total registry in the S. A. F. book was 

 25S, and the total number of votes 

 cast at election was 295. 



From this it would appear that the 

 question of railroad rates did not keep 

 visitors away, but on the other hand 

 that there was a large attendance. 

 The whole proposition then is, appar- 



ently, that there was as large or a 

 larger attendance at Cincinnati than 

 at any other convention of recent 

 years, but that only a small propor- 

 tion of those attending joined the so- 

 ciety. There were 1326 attending the 

 entertainment at Coney Island, of 

 which probably not to exceed 20 per 

 cent were members of the S. A. F. 



W. N. RUDD. 



BOSTON CO-OPERATIVE FLOV*/ER 

 GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 



The annual meeting and dinner of 

 this association was held at Young's 

 Hotel, Boston, on Saturday evening, 

 October 23. About forty gentlemen 

 sat down to the excellent banquet, 

 which was presided over by President 

 Stickel with the grace and dignity 

 born of seventeen years' consecutive 

 occupancy of the chair and which was 

 thoroughly enjoyed by those who par- 

 ticipated, including the representatives 

 of the trade papers who were invited 

 guests as usual. 



After the menu had been frazzled, 

 the business meeting of the corpora- 

 tion was in order. The treasurer's re- 

 port showed a surplus of about |7,500 

 over the par value of the stock. The 

 election of ofBcers resulted in the re- 

 election of all the old incumbents, S. 

 J. Goddard being selected to fill the 

 vacancy in the board of directors 

 caused by the detith ot E. Sutermeis- 

 ter. An eloquent resolution of respect 

 and condolence on the death of their 

 fellow-member and director for many 

 years, E. Sutermeister, was read by 

 President Stiekel and unanimously 

 adopted by a rising vote. 



The principal business of the meet- 

 ing was then taken up, viz., to see if 

 the corporation would vote to sell any 

 or all of its assets and to see if the 

 corporation would vote to liquidate or 

 dissolve. This was debated at length 

 from all standpoints and both proposi- 

 tions were finally adopted by a unani- 

 mous vote. The outcome of the move 

 will be the incorporation of an organ- 

 ization with larger functions and capi- 

 talized at $20,000 and it is understood 

 that the stockholders in the old com- 

 pany will re-invest in the new com- 

 pany to the extent of the value of 

 their shares in the old, or more. 



The question of the scope of a flower 

 market of this character brought out 

 some interesting views, pro and con, 

 as to the advisability of maintaining 

 the salesroom exclusively for the use 

 of bona fide local growers to dispose of 

 their respective products in the morn- 

 ing or opening its facilities for the 

 use of salesmen, brokers and commis- 

 sion dealers and keeping it in opera- 

 tion as a regular wholesale salesroom 

 all day, with storage accommodations, 

 etc., under the supervision of a man- 

 ager. It seemed to be the concensus 

 of opinion (hat the latter course is 

 the only logical one under modem 

 conditions, and that since competition 

 from commission dealers with supplies 

 from other states, etc., is inevitable, 

 it might as well be met within the 

 market walls as outside. In other 

 words "not a theory but a condition" 

 is to be met. 



On the table was a vase of fine 

 blooms of carnation Shasta from Pat- 

 ten Xl Co., which received many ap- 

 preciative compliments for its very 

 evident fine points as a good com- 

 mercial white. 



